PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT: 2009

Sunday, November 22, 2009

correction question 13: When developing a PMS, managers need to choose.......

The 4 various options or features of design available when developing a Performance Management System are:

Management by Objective – It is an option of design where objectives as from corporate level cascaded down to each division and then to departments and finally to employees. It seeks to judge the performance of employees based on their success in achieving the objectives they have established through consultation with their superiors. Performance Improvement under MBO focus on the goals to be achieved by employees rather than the activities they perform or the traits they exhibit in connection with their assigned duties.

Rating Scales – here each trait of characteristic to be rated is represented by a scale on which a rater indicates the degree to which an employee possesses that trait or characteristic.
Global Rating – While a rating scale with several relevant dimensions is preferable, many organisations simply use a single rating of overall job performance, for example, appraising and employee’s total performance as ‘average’. Such a rating commonly referred to as global rating, is useful for making some HRM decisions, such as those concerning salary increases or promotions.

Behaviourably Anchored Rating Schale (BARS) is a feature of developing PMS by placing descriptions of behaviour along a scale. These descriptions permit the rater to identify the point where a particular employee should be rated on the scale. The BARS consist of 5 to 10 vertical scales, one for each important dimensions of job performance anchored by the incidents judged to be critical. A critical incident occurs when employee behaviour results in unusual success or unusual failure in some part of the job.

correction question 9: how can performance management system be improved?

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Correction: question 2

The performance indicators and the position descriptors should be up to date for the performance appraisal to be effective because this will have an impact on the company and on the employees. Up to date and accurate performance appraisals should be available because an employee’ performance and positive feedback will depend mostly on the performance appraisal. If ever the employee’s performance has not been good enough during the year, then training may be provided to the employee so that he can give his best at work and show his potentials. It is therefore very important to have up to date information on the employee’s performance in order for the company to know what measures should be taken while evaluating the employee’s performance that is whether to give the employee promotion prospects because of good performance at work and hard work or whether to give training and coaching to the employee to improve his performance at work and to make the employee become multi skilled in the job process.

Moreover it will help companies to keep record about their employees’ performances and if in case grievances arise at work because of an employee, it will be easier to take immediate actions referring to his performance appraisals.Furthermore, the up to date information will help the company to decide about how much salary should be given to employees depending on their performances at work, whether to increase their salary by looking at their performance appraisal or whether to make the employee do more training in order to meet up the company’s goals and expectations in order to increase the company’s efficiency and at the same time to make the employee become more professional at work. Otherwise grievances may crop up if position descriptions and performance indicators are not up to date, this may therefore have an adverse effect on the company’s efficiency and lead to poor performance at work. There may be unfair discrimination as well because employees who merit being promoted will not be promoted if their performance appraisals have not been up to date and employees who have recently been irresponsible at work may get promotion prospects based on their previous performances, this will therefore prove to be very crucial for the future prospects of the company and may lead to grievances and great confusion in the company.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

correction for question 4: why is accurate and complete doc.........

The performance appraisal documentation should be accurate and complete in order to avoid rating errors because this can have an impact on the job holder and the company may also lose the right person for the job if documentation is not accurate and complete. Moreover documentation is necessary when decisions concerning discipline or dismiss might need to be taken; therefore there should be evidence behind the action taken. Therefore the documentation will act as a proof and it will be easier to demonstrate that every decision taken is being done fairly, thus it is necessary to have it complete and accurate.

The performance appraisal documentation helps to reduce the possibility of many rating errors. Good documentation is important in justifying evaluations and resultant administrative decisions. Effective documentation should therefore be accurate, specific, consistent, and factual. It should be in a written form and be provided to employees. Hence Documentation should be updated regularly, focus on evidence and adjusted as needed throughout an employee's career because it helps in giving effective, ongoing feedback, and is essential for conducting annual performance reviews

Friday, October 16, 2009

How can performance management systems be improved?

Performance Management System is one that is normally designed to strengthen good relationship between supervisors and employees in order to attain the organisation goals and objectives. However, the road to success is not always smooth and easy; improvements should be regularly reviewed so as to achieve to an effective performance management system. When this happens there is a need to have a look at the system and set up some guidelines that may help the organisation in improving the system. Several guidelines that follow should help to develop an improved performance management system:

Continual analysis of performance data
The appraisal system is recommended to be an ongoing evaluation process to achieve organisational success. By brainstorming or making audits staff and supervisors can developed their concerns and problems that exist within the performance management system and find effective solutions to these problems, they want to avoid with a new appraisal system. Hence, with feedback from different perspectives, they will re-evaluate performance scopes and set goals they want to achieve. By implementing a thorough Performance Management System review process this will help in establishing and maintaining a successful performance-based culture in the organisation.

Automation of Performance Management System
For long, organisations have been using a paper based system to take care of performance appraisals. However, the system has often proved its inefficacity as sometimes it was difficult to keep all these records appropriately. The tendency goes to a technology based solutions because of its rapidity in conducting appraisals and it is relatively low in cost. It gets appraisals done on time and can be monitored continually. It will also help in delivering structured evaluations that will contain more professional feedback. And last but not least it will eliminate all manual work associated with filing, analysing and accessing performance review documentation; it will collate performance data in a greater capacity and leave managers to access these data’s more easily to analyse and use it efficiently.

Defining performance indicators
The first challenge that an organisation face is in clearly defining the performance indicators also known as goals or measures. The challenge lies in finding the quantifiable parameters for many tasks. The effective way to reach to this analysis is through discussions among top management and managers to be able to decide what parameters or guidelines should be set up at all levels of employees. It is absolutely crucial that key employees be consulted before setting targets for them and for their peers. Once the guidelines are set, a goal setting exercise engaging all employees should be conducted to ensure mutual consent of employees and their managers to set and define performance indicators.Managers should also ensure that a balance between quality of delivery and quantity of delivery is maintained in order to keep up standards and hence, achieve desired performance.

Focus on observable behavior
The most important part in the appraisals process is the interview between supervisors and employees. Normally, all supervisors are trained accordingly to be able to handle these interviews as the key outcome of these interviews is to employees to understand and use the feedback develop themselves and improve their performance. For sure employees won’t be able to do so if the feedback from their superiors isn’t clear to them.

For feedback to be useful it should be behavioral and not personal. It has to be specific, directly observable and clearly job related to meet the two important criteria’s which are performance and results. Also, supervisors should keep regular records of the results employees achieve. This will show whether employees are above or below expectations and if the equipment provided to them meets their needs to perform well. By observing employees working, supervisors can also see how employees perform specific job responsibilities, if they communicate well, if they follow safety policies, if they argue with co- workers or customers and the poor performers as well.

Consequently, these observed behaviors can be discussed and both supervisors and employees can make plans to improve both performance and results. Based on normal reports supervisors can easily categorize their employees in broad categories like Outstanding, Excellent, Good and Average. However, for the succession planning of the organization; promotions, rewards there is a need to find the leader among performers.

Appropriate Reward System
Once identified, immediate steps should be taken to reward the performers. Rewards should be appropriate and matching the performance, and to extent the expectations of performers. It can be in terms of cash bonus, promotions, vacations etc. Sometimes HR can ask the performer to give their preference among a variety of chosen awards. The more satisfying the reward is, the more it will create an environment of competition among peers to perform better than others. A poor reward system, on the other hand, will create an indifference of employees towards your performance management system. Linking performance with pay helps organizations to satisfy the performers and motivate the non- performers.

Finally, to meet best practices in Performance Management System, organizations need to continually develop opportunities to make plans for improvement. However, those employees who can’t improve with all possible efforts from the organization’s part must be moved to some other department or be graciously asked to look for other opportunities outside as no organization can afford to carry “dead wood”.

How can a PMS assist with the up-skilling and development of an employee?

An organisation using Performance Management System when evaluating their employees will be able to spot the high to the poor performers. The performance appraisal technique will guide management how far the employee is in need of up skilling to deliver high standard of work and be effective.

Performance Appraisal System is the process by which organisation evaluates employees’ job performance. It is through the Performance Appraisal Interview that the Manager talks about the strengths and weaknesses of the employees. Discussions on this should be encouraged so that employees can express themselves regarding their personal development needs.

The discussions should include agreement of both parties regarding these strengths and weaknesses. Employees should be aware and agreed upon that they will need some more up-skilling and development in some particular areas. The areas for improvement can be some trait of behaviour or character or any technical aspect of their job.

Throughout the completion of implementing the PMS, the skills development of each employee need to be recorded in a particular database and in relation to this, their performance can be evaluated. The PMS will allow the company to know about what were the previous skills that the employee already possessed and what skills they actually require to deliver better performance on the job place. Therefore, by referring to the PMS the company will be able to find out which skills will be more suitable for which employees and hence provide them with the required and ongoing training sessions so as to make them before better skilled workers.

Thus effective training and development on the job, off the job or combination of both will ensure that knowledge and skills and behaviours learned will improve performance.
Training should be consistent with the organisation value system, be integrated in work processes and operations and aim to improve aptitudes for service delivery. On the job training help employees learn through observing colleagues, supervisors perform their job and repeating, improving their behaviours. Whereas off the job training enable employees meet other persons out of the organisation and thus sharing of knowledge and skills among everybody can be an advantage.

Some appraisers recommend training because they are genuinely interested in seeing improvement in the people under them. Others may use training courses as a punishment or as a reward. It is a generally accepted belief that training should never be used as a punishment. It is also advisable for superiors to distinguish between training for development and training for reward. Rather than superiors recommending specific training courses, it would be better for them to indicate training needs, and for someone else [for e.g. the personnel manager, Training officer] to training course limits the recommendations to courses known by him.

Another reason for this is that training needs need not necessarily point to training courses. A need might be better met through on-the-job training or being assigned a special project or through job rotation. Appraisers are also generally not familiar with training vocabulary, and may recommend vaguely a “management course” where a training officer may be able to come up with a much more specific and useful course content.

It is not of course enough to put training recommendations on paper and then see that they are carried out. Feedback on how effective the training has been must be obtained by superior who recommended it in first place. This must be done with discretion and the full awareness of the employee. The whole purpose of training is defeated by the superior demanding a conduct report on the employee’s behaviour at the end of the course. The point that has been missed is that a training course is just the right environment for an employee to experiment, make mistakes, and from them, thus stimulating the process of development. The best thing would and initiate be for the employee himself to report back on his own progress and initiate a course of action for improvement back on the job. If feedback is not obtained by the superior, all the learning that has taken place during the training is likely to be forgotten as quickly as it was learnt. It has to be put to use in the real world. It has to be on the form for the appraiser to indicate what action has been taken and the improvements seen.

It is understood that training is the key factor in order to assist employee in their up skilling and development, of course through the Performance Management System.

What role can HR play in imroving organisational performance?

Human resource manager should have a proper business strategy and implement these strategies into action, so that the HR manager is able to form part of the business team and attain the organisation main objectives. Moreover, human resource manager should be able to link business strategy to HR policies and practices and should contribute in decision-making process.

A good human resource plan should:

Develop Human Resource plans and strategies aligned to the organization’s strategic direction and business strategy.
Provide tools and tactics to enhance execution of these strategies.
Manage the interface between HRM processes and systems.
Formulate and communicate HRM policies.
Act as the conscience of employer with respect to people issues.
Assess the long-term impact of short-term decisions on people.
Manage people related issues accompanying mergers, alliances and acquisitions.
Advise management on implications of change for employees.
Co-ordinate & facilitate the change process.
Facilitate changed relationships.
Provide support structures for employees during change.
Deliberate and proactive management of the changing environment and its implications for work and the organization.

A good human resource policy can make to improve organisational performance. Appropriate human resource manager should know how to motivate staff members and promote positive attitude in the workplace so that the staffs get higher incentive to work harder. This is done by appraising person with the required performance or who has exceeded the expected performance. However, this will lead to greater efficiency and profitability in the organization.

Human resource management should provide retraining from time to time to reinforce staffs understanding of the work function. In addition, human resource management must give advice to employees, guide them, and give them support in order to avoid discrimination and harassment in the working environment.

Code of conduct should be well addressed to all employees at workplace. Also, managers should use the disciplinary process in order to improve performance of employees and enforce appropriate behavior to ensure a productive and safe workplace. This will help to eliminate inappropriate behavior and will also create a “win-win” situation for managers and subordinates.

Managers should provide personal assistance to employees if requested. Human resource should review properly the performance of all employees. Managers must be in a position to assist with substandard performance.

Counseling should be given to employees whose performance level is deteriorating. Managers need to develop their counseling skills to be able to come with the right solutions. If it is an organizational problem, this should be fixed immediately and if it is a personal problem, the employee must be referred to an expert.

Human resource manager have to provide employees with responsibilities so that they can make full use of their skills and abilities. Nevertheless, human resource management should cover all these aspects to improve organisation performance, otherwise this may lead to reduce motivation, alienation and labour unrest.

Friday, September 25, 2009

When developing a PMS, managers need to choose between various options or features of design available to them. Outline at least four such options.

The Performance Management System is one of the most important systems in an organization. I t is a process by which performance is tracked, regulated and managed. It doesn’t happen overnight to set up a good performance management system as there is a need to consider and choose its design and plan how it will work effectively to evaluate employees. There is an old African proverb that states, it takes a village to raise a child, but in the context of performance management process it can be said that it takes a whole organization to manage individual performance. To achieve a successful process, the managers should outline performance measurements and standards, establish a development plan for the employee, develop coaching and administer improvement and provide rewards for improvement.

Performance measurements and standards
When job descriptions have been designed, performance standards should be established to be able to describe what constitutes below-average, average and above –average performance. By analyzing the measuring performance system, this can have different meanings for each and every employee; even they work for the same organization. The common methods of evaluating skills and knowledge, competencies and performance are: the rating scale, the behaviorally anchored rating scale (BARS), the management by objectives (MBO) and the 360 degree multi-rater. Whatever the performance metric is chosen by employees and managers it is important that they observe, measure and improve performance. Inconsistent and contradictory measurement can lead to confusion and mistrust as the employee may feel the system is unfair or biased.

Establish a development plan for the employee
An effective performance management system should create a schedule and project development plan for each employee. By implementing, administering and utilizing an organization performance management system, it will require new roles and responsibilities, not just in Human Resources department but throughout the organization. Even when assuming that performance is satisfactory, there is need to establish a development plan with every staff, so that for him to grow professionally according to his expectations, hence, attaining the organization’s objectives. Last but not least, the supervisor needs to be flexible according to the new structure that the organization has programmed for his employees, for example: special permission allocated for further studies at University or other private learning institutions, sponsoring of specific courses related to their jobs and assisting those doing further studies, by providing them with books and assistance from already graduate staffs.

Develop coaching and make adjustments when there is poor performance
Performance management is an ongoing process. There must be continuity in establishing and communicating the organization’s objectives. To be able to keep that path, the managers and the employee need to focus on feedback and set up constructive and positive suggestions for the well being of the organization. The evaluator may use the 360 degree performance feedback system to provide a broader approach of performance, as it incorporates feedback from the employee’s peers, customers, and people who may interact with them. However, when employees are not to the standards set by the organization, the supervisor will have to determine the reasons for the gap between standards and performance. If the weaknesses are related to work then, the supervisor will have to take appropriate actions to correct the situation. Also the supervisor may tackle the problem by readjusting the employee work schedule for example by giving him or her less interesting file to work with. Managers and supervisors need to provide a close guidance and monitoring, in order for the employees to feel secured and motivated in their day to day work, such as to be efficient and effective.

Provide rewards for improvement
When employees perform well they should be compensated. Rewards usually keep morale of employees high and improve their loyalty to the organization. By rewarding employees, this will encourage them in going an extra mile and motivate them to achieve their goals. Organizations can motivate and reward their employees by using both the extrinsic rewards which comprises: pay increase, promotion, working conditions and the intrinsic rewards which are associated with the satisfaction derived from the work itself: the job content, praise, recognition. Nowadays, companies acknowledge hard work of their staff by using the reward system as they want to attract and retain valuable employees.

Hence, by using some of the methods outline here, organizations can offer a performance management system that can significantly improve the appraisal process. The employees will be praised and feel better in participating in the performance management process. Finally, this will have a positive effect on the overall PERFORMANCE of the organization.

Whar guidelines for framing and communicating performance feedback would you recommend to a manager about to conduct formal performance reviews ?

Performance Review is an annual or periodic process which helps employees to identify ways of improving their ability to work and output performance, in order to achieve the company’s goals and objectives, and also to provide staffs with personal and professional growth opportunities.

Guidelines that are recommended to a manager about to conduct formal performance reviews for the first time are:

Provides training with specific behavioral feedback to enable team members to improve their performance.
Works with team members to reach an agreement on performance appraisal.
Review the employee’s performance on a regular basis that is quarterly.
Provides team members verbal or written feedback on what is their level of achievement in their jobs.
Choose a friendly environment to convey interviews and make sure that there is no disturbance or interruption throughout the interview.
Maintain eye contact with the interviewee throughout the interview.
In every organization feedback is very important and is a useful tool that contributes to the success of the organization.

Feedback
Feedback form part of the communication process and need to be in a two way, from a person to a team, or Vis versa. It is also on the behavioral attitude that an individual has on his work environment and surroundings.

How to provide feedback?

Effective feedback is specific not general.
Effective feedback always focuses on a specific behavior, not on a person or their intentions
The best feedback should be sincerely and honestly provided to help.
Successful feedback describes actions or behavior that the individual can do something about.
Whenever possible, feedback that is requested is more powerful. Ask permission to provide feedback. For example, say: "I'd like to give you some feedback about the presentation, is that okay with you?"
Effective feedback involves the sharing of information and observations. It does not include advice unless you have permission or advice was requested.
Effective feedback is well timed. Whether the feedback is positive or constructive provide the information as closely tied to the event as possible.
Effective feedback involves what or how something was done, not why. Asking why is asking people about their motivation and that provokes defensiveness.
Check to make sure the other person understood what you communicated by using a feedback loop, such as asking a question or observing changed behavior.
Positive feedback involves telling someone about good performance. Make this feedback timely, specific, and frequent.
The main purpose of constructive feedback is to help people understand where they stand in relation to expected and/or productive job behavior.

Moreover, performance appraisal system also plays an important role in relation to communicating performance and framing feedback.

The performance appraisal system used by an organization can be done annually. The purpose of the review is for employee as well as manager, to aptitude performance from the past year relating to the specific responsibilities and objective of that employee. This gives the opportunity for managers to give feedback on the strengths and development areas that are summarized from that previous year. Employees must also use this opportunity to give feedback on how they can best perform and develop themselves.

Annual review period is an opportunity to communicate and work together to build unity in the workplace. Realistic plans may be made for the employee's development and growth. The supervisor and the employee review the job description standards and compare the employee's accomplishments against the standards set. The data comes from established performance metrics, employee self-assessment and customer or co-worker feedback from daily activities.

What type f training is required to make adequate use of performance management systems?

Training is a learning process that involves the acquisition of knowledge, sharpening of skills, concepts, rules, or changing of attitudes and behaviours to enhance the performance of employees. For an organisation that newly starts implementing Performance Management System, the need to train their employees on the system is vital. All employees should understand the process, how it works and what is expected from them as an Appraiser or Appraisee. Therefore Training is required to make adequate use of Performance Management and training should be an ongoing process, not a one off decision.

Why the organisation values performance appraisals and how individual performance benefits the organisation.
Before implementing the Performance Management System in an organisation, all employees starting from the top until the bottom should have a training schedule throughout the year. The benefits and opportunities with this new system, is about retrieving the maximum output of each and every employee, in order for the organisation to be productive, efficient and profitable. Therefore with the help of HR, training will be organised in order to deliver instructions to both managers and employees in how to use and participate in Performance Management System.

The structure of the process and its relationship with compensation
Training structure and process with relation to Compensation need to be opened to all individuals within the organisation. Employees should know exactly what they need to achieve in terms of goals and objectives. They need to have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in the organisation structure in order to be well performers and be rewarded accordingly. Consequently those employees, who do not perform as expected within the organisational standards, will have to bear the consequences, for example cancellation of bonuses, no salary increased, or no reward in terms of benefits. They should understand that the system is fair according to reward and recognition.

Know how to collect suitable facts concerning job performance
The managers will have to learn the whole process and one of the processes is to observe and analyse the job accomplishment and performance of their employees and collect valid evidence. This can be done by using appropriate tools and techniques. One can be having a log book where the manager will note all the good and bad performance of the employee and use this during the Performance Appraisal Interview. They can use memory aids to record information like behavioural diaries and critical incidents files or an electronic diary.

How to conduct Performance Management Interviews
When conducting Performance Appraisal Interviews, the subordinate should not feel threatened during the interview, he or she should feel at ease to express their views and to influence the interview. The Appraiser should be sympathetic, helpful when leading the Performance Management Appraisal Interview; he should invite participation of the employee and be supportive. All these skills cannot be acquired easily; therefore all appraisers should have training on this most important aspect of Performance Management. The training should cover the aspect of how to give constructive feedback to job holders which will be accepted by them. The way to give feedback will enable employees to develop themselves and perform effectively in their job. The appraiser should talk clearly about the good and bad things the employee had done and afterwards, let the give his or her point of view and discuss in a friendly manner.

The meaning and application of the rating criteria
Managers should be aware that the rating criteria have been worked using job description. They need to know how to rate employees regarding their job performance. There are some typical rating errors that managers should avoid when assessing their employees. They are:

1. Halo/Horn – The rating is based only on one aspect, not on the overall performance of the job holder.
2. Leniency /Strictness - The rater is either too easy or too harsh when rating performance.
3. Recency/Primary – The rater only remembers either recent or old events only.
4. Central Tendency – Rating all employees as average when individual employee performance actually varies.
5. Contrasts Effects – Instead of applying a common standard to all employees, tend to compare performance of one employee to another.
Obviously the managers won’t avoid these errors without being told, and through training they will learn and understand.

How to use Behaviourally Anchored Rating Scale (BARS)
The development of BARS and Behavioural observations scales will help to improve rating scale by placing descriptions of behaviour along a scale. The managers should be trained on how to do behavioural sampling and that forms part of their daily job, and from that will get positive outcomes for evaluations.

Establishing performance objectives and measures
Often the most difficult part of a planning meeting is finding appropriate and clear language to describe the performance objectives and their measures/ indicators of success. How to set objective should be understood clearly to Managers and training will eventually help to improve their skills. The objectives and the indicators need to be SMART: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-bound.

Coaching and Counselling
Managers should be trained on how to be a good coach and counsellor. The poor performers need to be coached and sometimes need help to solve their problems either work related or personal ones. Everybody doesn’t have this required skills, they need to learn how to develop them and use them with their employees.Through all these trainings Appraiser and Appraisee cannot conclude that the Performance Management System will not work in their organisation. They should be able to make adequate use of these trainings in order for the system to be a success.

Outline the importance of giving feedback.

As a manager or leader, part of the role is to give feedback to their team. Feedback is incredibly important to individuals and teams. We can say that feedback is a gift. We have to take a good advantage of it.

Why we need feedback?
Feedback allows the system to improve. In the absence of feedback, we assume the system is producing the desired results. It is similar when dealing with people. In the absence of feedback from your supervisor or peers, we assume I must be doing OK and continue along. However, since most of the processes we deal with have an imperfect component, there will be a need for constant adjustment in most solutions.

The feedback highlights the areas in need of improvement and the manager can make the necessary adjustments allowing the process to produce better result . When dealing with human being, this very simple act carries with it a strong emotional and psychological component that cannot be overlooked.

Positive feedback

Positive feedback amplifies the signal and negative feedback will dampen the signal
It reinforces our self-image as being close to reality. The closer that image , the smoother our interactions with other people. The more self-aware we are, the better we are able to judge on other people
It helps employees know when they have done well. In so doing, you need to be specific, i.e what has been done well, and why it was useful
Providing effective feedback is not an easy task. If not handled properly an employee could feel that they have been personally attacked and their feelings have have been hurt.

Negative feedback

We prefer positive feedback and we don’t like negative feedback. But there are more useful data in negative feedback rather than there is in positive feedback. Thus, it’s time to change about how we feel about negative feedback.

We must always remember that:
NEGATIVE FEEDBACK= IMPROVEMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Feedback guides us on the track of improvement in order to achieve our targeted goals. There are many ways to respond to feedback. Some ways simply don’t work. For example:

Giving in and quitting
Getting mad at the source of the feedback
Ignoring the feedback

These three examples given above just don’t work. We all know people who tune out everyone’s point of view but their own. They don’t want to hear anything anyone else has to say. Sad thing is feedback could significantly transform their lives. We must always keep in mind that feedback is simply information, you don’t have to take it personally. Just welcome it and use it. When asking for feedback, most people will not voluntarily give you feedback. They are as uncomfortable with possible confrontation as we are.

Feedback for improvement
Providing feedback for improvement can provide guidance and support when people are not performing, as they should. People need to know that was not done well and why. But most importantly, they need to know that they can do to improve their performance.

Reasons why feedback is important

Without feedback mistakes go uncorrected, good performance is not reinforced and clinical competence is not achieved.
Employees want and value feedback, both on that they are doing well and on what needs to be improved.
Effective feedback can help to identify learning needs, accelerate learning and offer options for future performance.
Encourages employees to be actively engaged and take responsibility for their own performance.
Help employees to be able to recognise, evaluate and discard or include new ideas in practice.
Provide information about current performance that can help learners correct misconceptions, improve performance in future tasks, and continue positive behaviours
Models for employees that ongoing feedback and continual learning are part of the content, process, values and motivation.

Feedbacks need to be balanced. It is always a good idea to start a feedback session by starting with positive performance of the employee. Feedback should be aimed at creating actual change and helping employees how to continuously evaluate their own performance.

Friday, September 18, 2009

What is performance management ? What is the difference between performance management and performance appraisal?

Performance management is the practice of actively using performance data to improve the organization's health. This practice involves strategic use of performance measures and standards to establish performance targets and goals, to prioritize and allocate resources, to inform managers about needed adjustments or changes in policy or program directions to meet goals, to frame reports on the success in meeting performance goals, and to improve the quality of management and organization practice.

Performance Management is an ongoing dialogue between manager and employee that links expectations, ongoing feedback and coaching, performance evaluations, development planning, and follow-up.

Why performance management is so important within an organization?

Enhanced employee performance in the organizational context requires more organizational support in terms of goal setting systems, learning/training systems, appraisal systems and rewards systems in addition to mere self motivation of the employees. A well designed and well implemented performance management system fulfils these requirements.
In globally competitive environment there is a need for continuous improvement of the performance of the organization which in turn depends on the continuous improvement of the performance of the employees year after year. Performance management aims at that.
Performance management system makes performance appraisal more objective and useful otherwise, when the traditional performance appraisal carried out in isolation it may prove to be counterproductive.
Performance management focuses the efforts of the entire organization and particularly those of its human resources to the ultimate goals of the organization.
Every organization should customize it to its specific objectives and requirements as different organizations have different policies.

What is Performance appraisal?
1.Appraising the employees on how well they did in the past period, say for past six months to a year.

2.Appraising the employees for their potentials and achieved goals.

Why should we do performance appraisal?

To find out the levels of performance of the employees by deciding and awarding appropriate motivational packages to the employees in terms of recognition; salary raise, promotion, special rewards, bonus, profit sharing, stock options etc.
To differentiate the competency gaps of the employees as compared to what competencies they should have. This helps in training and development needs identification.
To identifying the areas of weaknesses and strengths and working out appropriate interventions for the employees for their training and development.
To increase in improving employees' effectiveness and efficiency.
To work out additional development interventions for employees like job rotation, job enrichment, transfers between various sites/offices, foreign assignments etc.
To develop career progression of the employees based on the analysis of their past performance and future potentials.

What is the difference between performance management and performance appraisal?
Performance Management is a new name being given to Performance Appraisal system. Here the thrust is on management of performance by planning, reviewing and developing it and not just judging the performance. The performance targets are set by superior subordinates and a quarterly review of the employee’s performance is undertaken to correct the shortcomings identified and accordingly take appropriate action to review problems encountered. In previous performance appraisal system, the performance was merely judged at the end of the year and the manager assumed the role more of a judge than a mentor or a coach. The method used was not appreciated by the employees and hence it was creating a growing frustration and feeling against the system. In Performance Management the motive is to manage the performance of every individual throughout the year and not just judging it at the end of the year. The main aim is development of performance in order to reach to the level of excellence.

Performance appraisal is but only one part of the bigger process of performance management. So, the short answer is that performance appraisal (annual review, employee review) fits under performance management.

What's important to understand is that performance appraisal, on its own, should serve only one purpose otherwise their value is seriously undermined. For example, an employee who may have shown vast improvement in performance yet still only be above average. The ratings allocated to him under reward and performance reviews will be different from the potential review. (The individual’s potential is still limited, despite the improvement in performance).

Is it possible to conduct meaningful performance appraisal without accurate and up-to-date position descriptions and performance indicators?

Before answering the above question, lets us find out what is performance appraisal and performance indicator.

Performance Appraisal.
Performance appraisal is usually considered to be the process and time when manager and employee sit down to review the employee's performance over the last year, or month, or even shorter time spans. Most of the time people think of it as a once a year event, which is a recipe for disaster.
During performance appraisal meetings, a number of methods can be used to document, or record, or summarize performance discussions, ranging from narratives, rating scales, critical incident summaries, etc. Usually there is an expectation that some sort of paperwork will result.

Aims of performance appraisal.
Generally, the aims of a performance appraisal are to:

give feedback on performance to employees.
identify employee training needs.
document criteria used to allocate organizational reward.
reward such as: salary increases, promotion, disciplinary actions, etc.
provide the opportunity for organizational diagnosis and development.
facilitate communication between employee and administration
validate selection techniques and human resource policies to meet federal EEO requirements.

Performance Indicator.
Performance indicator is defined as a measure of performance.It is quantifiable measurements, agreed to beforehand, that reflect the critical success factors of an organization. They will differ depending on the organization.

Example of performance indicator.

A business may have as one of its Key Performance Indicators the percentage of its income that comes from return customers.
A school may focus its Key Performance Indicators on graduation rates of its students.
A Customer Service Department may have as one of its Key Performance Indicators, in line with overall company KPIs, percentage of customer calls answered in the first minute.
A Key Performance Indicator for a social service organization might be number of clients assisted during the year.

Based on the explanation given above about performance management and performance indicator, it clearly shows that performance appraisal cannot be meaningful without accurate and up-to date position description and performance indicator.

Performance appraisals are essential for the effective management and evaluation of staff. Appraisals help develop individuals, improve organizational performance, and feed into business planning. Formal performance appraisals are generally conducted annually for all staff in the organization. Each staff member is appraised by their line manager. Directors are appraised by the CEO, who is appraised by chairman or company owners, depending on the size and structure of the organization.

Performance appraisals generally review each individual's performance against objectives and standards for the trading year, agreed at the previous appraisal meeting.

Performance appraisals are also essential for career and succession planning - for individuals, crucial jobs, and for the organization as a whole. Performance appraisals are important for staff motivation, attitude and behavior development, communicating and aligning individual and organizational aims, and fostering positive relationships between management and staff. It provide a formal, recorded, regular review of an individual's performance, and a plan for future development.

What is a code of conduct?

A code of conduct can be defined as generally accepted rules that govern and regulate behavior relationship and action of members of an organization. Its objective is to promote a higher standard of practice within the organization.

Writing a code of conduct for a corporation may be a difficult task in the beginning. The guidelines should be as impartial as it can go. It should never be pro-company or pro-employee alone. A definite balance between the two should be observed. In writing a code of conduct, the goal is to promote humanity and harmony between individuals' in spite of the difference in race, background, and beliefs.

Guidelines for developing a code of conduct.

A code of conduct should:

Include Values, belief and expectation rather than facts.
It should also be based on the organization’s values which are the basic upon which the code of conduct will grow.
It should be simple and precise so that everyone can understand.
Incorporate opinions from members of the organization so as to ensure rights of the document.

A code of conduct can be brief or comprehensive depending on the objective. It should address a wide variety of issues.

Three key factors when writing a code of conduct.

The choice of topic to be included in a code will be influenced by three factors:

What are the principal laws and regulations applicable to the organizations?
What guidance do we need to offer our intended users?
What values and principal do we want to impart?

Management should ensure that all employees get a copy of the code.There is also a need to identify ethical principles that are most relevant to the organization.

Some of the values that need to be considered in drafting the code are:

Integrity
Justice
Abuse of office
Discrimination
Conflicts of interest-policy which clarifies a conflict of interest is what staff should do in case of conflict and declaration of interest.
Employee health and safety
Maintaining records and information
Privacy and confidentiality
Punctuality, absenteeism and desertion
General conduct and behaviour.

Moreover, certain company can have other rules and regulations that suits its need and unique circumstance.
The purpose of a code of conduct is to capture the spirit of the organization and to protect its culture.

Why is accurate and complete documentation so important in performance management, particularly when dealing with employee underperformance?

As per the description given above, performance management involves establishing clear expectation and understanding about essential job description that employee is expected to do. Thus, it clearly shows that accurate and complete documentation is really important in performance management when dealing with employee underperformance. Employers who work at best practice benefit from motivated staff that are performing at their best. These employers also understand that when issues concerning underperformance are not addressed and managed both appropriately and sensitively, it can lead to unhealthy and unproductive outcomes that may affect the entire workplace. Establishing effective performance management systems can have significant benefits for an organisation, as it can lead to happier, more motivated and better performing employees. Reviewing, refining and implementing performance management systems are ways of helping achieve these significant benefits.

What is underperformance?
Underperformance or poor performance can be exhibited in the following ways:

unsatisfactory work performance, that is, a failure to perform the duties of the position or to perform them to the standard required
non-compliance with workplace policies, rules or procedures
Unacceptable behaviour in the workplace, disruptive or negative behaviour that impacts on co-workers.

What are the reasons of underperformance?
There are many reasons why an employee may perform poorly. Some of the common reasons include:

an employee doesn’t know what is expected because goals or standards or workplace policies and consequences are not clear
interpersonal differences
there is a difference between an employee’s capabilities and the job they are required to undertake, or the employee does not have the knowledge or skills to do the job expected of them
an employee does not know whether they are doing a good job because there is no counselling or feedback on their performance
lack of personal motivation, low morale in the workplace and/or poor work environment • personal issues such as family stress, physical and/or mental health problems or problems with drugs or alcohol
cultural misunderstandings
workplace bullying.
the longer that poor performance is allowed to continue, the more difficult a satisfactory resolution becomes, and the more the overall credibility of the system may suffer.

How to manage with underperformance?

A clear system for managing underperformance is good for both a business and its employees.

Here is an easy to follow step by step guide to managing underperformance.

Step 1- Identify the problem

It is important to understand the key drivers of performance or underperformance within the workforce.It is also important to correctly and specifically identify the problem.

Step 2- Assess and analyse the problem

The employer should determine:
· how serious the problem is
· how long the problem has existed, and
· how wide the gap is between what is expected and what is being delivered.

Once the problem has been identified and assessed, the employer should organise a meeting with the employee to discuss the problem.

Step 3- Meet with the employee to discuss the problem

It is important that the meeting takes place in private in an environment that is comfortable, non-threatening and away from distractions and interruptions.
The employer should let the employee know the purpose of the meeting in advance so they can adequately prepare for the meeting.

The employer should begin by holding a discussion with the employee to explain the problem in specific terms. From this conversation, the employee should be able to clearly understand:
· what the problem is
· why it is a problem
· how it impacts on the workplace, and
· why there is a concern.

Step 4- Jointly devise a solution

Where possible, it is important that a solution is jointly devised with the employee. An employee who has contributed to the solution will be more likely to accept and act on it.

When working out a solution, the employer should:
· explore ideas by asking open questions
· emphasise common ground
· keep the discussion on track
· focus on positive possibilities, and
· offer assistance, such as further training, mentoring, flexible work practices or redefining roles and expectations.

What needs to happen to ensure that employee reward and recognition systems are fair and that they achiece their goals?

Although these terms are often used interchangeably, reward and recognition systems should be considered separately. Employee reward systems refer to programs set up by a company to reward performance and motivate employees on individual and/or group levels. Rewards can be either in term of money or recognition from managers and is not included in the salary, because it may be considered as a cost to the company. It is important to point out that those people need to feel appreciated and recognised for the work performed. No one likes to feel that their efforts are unseen and disregarded. Reward and Recognition system let employees know that their effort counts. Employee Reward is mainly attached to financial benefit whereas Employee Recognition is a way of praising people for positive efforts. The appreciation can only be done by giving a thank to an employee for example to someone who provides good service to customers or to acknowledge an extra effort.

Six Keys to ensure that the Reward & Recognition System are fair:

Goals need to be set and clearly explain to employees.

Employees should know exactly what they need to achieve in terms of goals. They need to have a clear understanding of their roles and responsibilities in the organisation in order to perform. Through the job description, objective performance measures are elaborated so that to remind the job holder and managers on what objectives they need to focus on. Managers need to communicate this to their employees before assessing their employees. It should be done in a way that both of them understand it easily, make it easy to follow.

Gather Commitment from Management and feedback of employees.

All managers and executives should understand the program’s ins-and-outs. This includes eligibility, management’s roles and responsibilities, types of behaviours wanted, as well as results and contributors that warrant a reward and recognition. Management commitment is very important but we also need to have employees input too. To have an accurate perspective on the types of recognition employees would value, the only way to do that is to ask them. Surveys or even focus group meetings can be organised and through this we will get the input of all people at all levels. As we know different levels may have different needs and motivation.

Link the Reward to Bottom Line Results.

Your rewards and recognition program should make sense from two perspectives: from the organisation’s overall goals and strategies and from the needs and expectations of the workforce. Ultimately you want your rewards and recognition program to be connected to the employee’s and organisations day-to-day reality. Bottom line are those who are really in touch with customers and need special attention, because it is them that attracks customers and deliver the goods in their behavioral attitudes.

Connect the Reward’s value to the employee.

Your employees need to value and feel that the reward is meaningful. By working extra mile, employees will feel secured and valued such that performance will come from themselves. They need to be proud enough to receive at least some of the awards that perhaps they will even talk about it with their families and friends for years to come. Some employees feel more important by just praising them and recognising their efforts, on the other side others appreciate money as a source of motivation and reward.

Need to set up appropriate measuring tools/feedback mechanism to monitor performance to ensure that employees are fairly rewarded and recognised.

Performance Appraisal exercise should use performance measurements that are evaluative in all the aspects of a person’s relationship between himself and his working environment. Measurement should reflect appraisal criteria like traits, behaviours,skills, knowledge and outcome of the individual. For example if as an employee I have to sell more credit cards than the required targets but my behaviour towards my colleague is unethical, how to rate me, what is important is to create a mix of all those criteria, allocate different ratings to each of them, and then give a final rating for the overall performance. Managers and Supervisors who perform the appraisal exercise need to be trained. They are responsible for selecting the individuals that will receive rewards and this decision need to be done accurately and fairly. They should know how to give feedback. The feedback should be communicated clearly and consistently to all employees in order to avoid misunderstandings which may generate bad feelings.

Set up a Performance Related Pay - ↑ performance = ↑ reward.

Employees need to believe that the system is fair and trustworthy. When developing a reward and recognition system, it is important to establish criteria and standards to ensure organisational consistancy within the program. This is important for many reasons, mostly because you want your employees to trust the system and to see that it is fair to every participant. Of course there are also legal reasons to ensure that your organisation and/or department are not practicing discriminatory practices. The less subjective the Performance Management System, the better it is.

Outcomes and recommendations through this exercise should be monitored in a way that high performers are rewarded accordingly to the organisation remuneration and recognition systems. Whereas poor performers need to be managed in a way that they are not frustrated and left apart.

Following all these guidelines through the Performance Management System, objectives of the reward and recognition process is mainly to retain high performers and reward them as per their expectations. It will encourage knowledgeable employees by maintaining higher salary/wage, work standards and praise them for their good work accomplished.

What is the basic purpose of staff counselling.

Staff counselling is a service offered by organisation to their employees who need help to solve work related problems or personal one. The term 'counselling' is used in the sense of assisting people to achieve and maintain a satisfactory standard of work performance. It is the role of the managers together with HR to assist these staff in these situations. The staff should feel free to talk and share his/her issues either related to work or personal ones. The manager will help the staff think through and explore feelings about what has brought him to seek counselling. The role of the manager is not to give advice but helps the employee find solutions related to their problems.

The basic purpose of staff counselling are:
• An opportunity to value and support the staf
• Resolution of difficulties that impact negatively on staff morale and service delivery
• To improve capacity to manage difficulties (i.e rate of absenteeism can be reduced)
• Improve organisation image

With the Performance Management process well planned and used appropriately, Managers and Supervisors will be able to know who the poor and high performers are. Therefore organisation needs to have a process to manage the employees who are not performing as per standards. With the help of HR, managers will need to use the staff counselling process. Employees will feel valued, encouraged with the help of their managers in resolving their problems. Staff counselling will encourage a change in an individual’s goal, values and behaviours.

Consequently they will be more productive and motivated to better perform in their work and everybody benefit from counselling as it enables the manager to develop a good relationship with his staff, understands them better. The organisation will have a better, happier, productive team and the service offered will be much better. The staff counselling minimises the risk of decreasing productivity of the organisation.

Staff counselling will definitely contribute in reducing the rate of absenteism, since employees will perform better and attend work regularly. If the rate employees problem is high, higher will be the cost for the organisation and also have an impact on team work.
Organisations use this powerful tool in order to attract and retain skilled and knowledgeable workforce. For the organisation to reflect a good image, this need to be done through their employees. Therefore if an employee is unable to perform due to personal or work related problem, Staff counselling is most welcome to manage this issue.

However, it is much better to talk to a more objective or neutral person instead of supportive family and friends. The counselling offered through the Staff Counselling Service is free and confidential.

Here are some issues people talk about and need to go through staff counselling:
• work related issues
• interpersonal conflict
• work performance difficulties
• burnout and/or career planning
• harassment and discrimination
• family relationship difficulties
• relationship issues
• personal tragedy or trauma
• drug and alcohol issues
• work, life balance
• any other work related or personal challenge

For Staff counselling to work positively, immediate actions need to be taken, for example related to work, it is vital to address the problem rapidly. However, for personal ones, extreme caution is needed to tackle it. The employee should accept help in sorting out their personal problems. Confidentially is very important to respect and if managers are not able to address the problem there are external qualified counsellor who may help in those circumstances. Sometimes the manager will have to ask for the help of the EAPs(Employee Assistance Programs) to deal with personal problem where the manager cannot deal, as mentioned above drug and alcohol problems.

Whenever an employee work performance or behaviour falls or is repeatedly below standard, it is neccessary to conduct a Counselling interview in order to:
• Understand when stronger action need to be applies
• Gather the necessary information, and planning an appropriate counselling strategy (considering the personality of the employee)
• Follow a proven performance counselling process (also provided on a laminated "prompt sheet" for use back on the job: steps, tips and principles)
• Be firm regarding non-negotiable performance standards
• Not seeing the problem on a personal basis, but sticking to the facts, and pointing out the negative impact of unacceptable performance or behaviour
• Ensure the employee's commitment to an agreed plan of action (and by following up on this)
• Retain– and even enhance - the employee's level of self-esteem, motivation and loyalty
• Understand both the employee and the employer legal rights with respect to performance counselling

Explain the disciplinary action process.

The purpose of the disciplinary process is meant to ensure that employee maintain performance and behavior for the benefit of the employee itself as well as the organization.

The main elements for disciplinary process are:
• Clear policies
• Equity across organizations of the causes
• Union agreements
• Careful examination of the causes
• Well documented records
• Appropriate appeals procedures

Human Resource management is mainly about establishing and developing disciplinary policies and procedures. Once this is done, they should ensure that all the characteristics of the process are consistent within the organization and that it is also conformed to legal requirements. The disciplinary policies and procedures are written by individual and are approved by the board of directors. The key aim of disciplinary procedure is to try and achieve a change in behavior on the part of the employee concerned. There must be a mutual understanding between employees and management may be via unions about Do’s and Don’ts of the institution so that the employees know and is responsible about the consequences of their fault. It is important that the procedure is followed and related to disciplinary action, otherwise an eventual dismissal may be considered unfair, if inappropriate action has not been taken.

In many organizations the disciplinary process is implemented as follows:
• Counseling session
• Oral warning
• Written warning
• Final warning
• Dismissal or Termination of employment

The issue is investigated and the employees will be given the right to state their case before any action is taken. The employee will be advised by the employer about the reasons for investigating in writing, and he will be given the chance to explain the penalty imposed to him or her and the right to appeal. On clear evidence of misconduct, disciplinary action will be taken against the employee. The action will be appropriate to the type and size of the offence and employees have the right to be represented, by either a legal party or a member of the employees union.

Stage 1- Counseling
Counseling is the process of assisting any individual, briefing him or her about rules, procedures and regulations for example of any organization and helping the individual to understand the consequences of his behavioral attitude. Counseling sessions are usually used for the first time of offence and are mainly for minor offences. The emphasis is on the listening of the employee. The manager will define what is expected and discuss solutions and consequences. This normally does not form part of the employee’s personnel file.

Stage2- Verbal Warning
A formal verbal warning will be imposed when first occurrence, minor infractions happen. This will become part of official personnel file.

Stage 3- Written Warning
The written warning is usually the second step in the progressive disciplinary procedure. It is given to the employee by the senior manager when he commits serious offence or after repetition of minor offences. This states the nature of the offence and specifies future disciplinary action if offence is committed again. The employee will be required to read and sign the formal warning and will have the opportunity to appeal if he estimates the warning is unjustified.

Stage 4 - Final Written Warning
A final Written Warning is given by Senior Manager and also to the Human Resource Department. It is where severe actions are taken against the employee for his or her bad action or behavior.

Stage 5- Progressive Disciplinary Process
Generally the last step in the progressive disciplinary process will dismissed the employee in the event of gross misconduct. A letter of dismissal will be sent by the Director who will recommend it. No action will be taken until Human Resource Manager has not discussed the case and the appeal procedure hasn’t been carried out.

Whenever an employee appeal against suspension or dismissal the Human Resource Manager should be present and the employee may be represented. An employee can also appeal to the Employment Tribunal if he considers the dismissal is unfair.

All parts of the procedure should be supported by documentation and consistent to the disciplinary policies of the company and be kept in a confidential file.

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Why is it necessary for organisations to have a grievance procedure?

A grievance procedure provides a framework of presenting and resolving dispute between an employee and management. The procedure will define different type of grievance which include; the responsibility of individuals at different stage, the presentation and documentation of the dispute, and the time limit by which the grievance must be presented and dealt with at each stage.
Any dispute that may arise between an employee and management with respect of the terms and conditions of this Agreement shall be subject to the following Grievance Procedure.

The benefits of setting a grievance procedure are:
• Stabilization of daily employee relations;
In a day- to-day basis the grievance procedure will secure the employee in his relationship with the management, as there is a sense of assurance in resolving issues rather than leaving disputes continue. Failure to manage dispute in an organization can influence other areas such as; people are morally affected, there is a demotivation of employees at all level, higher costs arises in paying for penalties and a decrease in productivity may be felt.

• Democracy in the workplace.
Grievance procedure plays an important role in creating a sense of democracy in the workplace by making employees feel more secured with lower risk in their jobs. Also it encourages them to raise issues without any fear of reprisal by the employer. It is understood that employees feel a sense of justice and rightness in their tasks and are efficient and productive.

• Open discussion of issues and improved communication between employer and employee.
Whenever, there is an issue, employees will voice out their concerns through this process and the employer will be able to focus on the problems and bring out solutions. A two way communication process need to be undertaken in such a way that both parties concern feel at ease and are able to voice out all their dissatisfaction and ambiguity in their jobs.

• Allows for interpretation of the collective agreement.
The Grievance Procedure in a collective agreement, specify disputes arising between two concerns parties, which is mutually supported by employees and the organization. The outcome of the agreement is a consensus between both parties related to their disputes. A well interpretation of the agreement need to be clarified by concern parties in order for them to be on the right track and understands everything clearly, such as to avoid misunderstanding.

• Provides the option to submit the problem to a neutral third party.
The neutral party will have the role of giving the final decision according to norms of equity and fairness. The grievance procedure may facilitate the enhancement of the union solidarity by developing employee loyalty; employees feel more confident and are aware that their union is working in their favor.
Furthermore, in having an established grievance procedure in an organization it will reinforce strong labor relations, improved morale attitude and increase productivity.

Reference:
Doyle, S. C. The Grievance Procedure. The Heart of the Collective Agreement. http://irc.queensu.ca (accessed on September 16, 2009).

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT